Local review

Part of marketing a book is finding people willing to write a review for you. Last Thursday, I sent my book to a woman in Fargo who writes a blog of her reviews of local authors, http://bookbag.areavoices.com/. I'm actually excited and ready to hear some critism. I've had many wonderful comments from family and friends, which I love to hear. They've even forwarded emails and texts with positive comments from their friends whom I don't know. I guess what I'm looking for is some constructive criticism to help me write an even better second book. Sure, I want to sell more copies of Missing Maggie, but I'm looking for longevity. My dream is to be a successfull author for many years to come.

Finding time...

I've been meaning to write this blog post for several days now, but it's been rather difficult to find the time to write anything. Life gets busy. That shouldn't be an excuse though. Everyone is busy. I don't know anyone who doesn't want a little extra time in their day to get things accomplished. So, instead of feeling sorry for myself and complaining to my husband, I decided to set up a writing spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will hopefully get me motivated to find time, whenever it may be, to write. My goal is to write 500 words per day. Sadly, I'm already 500 words behind. I figure I'll have to play catch-up a couple of days a week. It's a start at least!

Random Thought: When did Halloween costumes get so sexy?!

Writing again

I finally got up this morning to work on the second novel in the Kody Burkoff series. It felt so good! I've spent the last several months rewriting, editing, researching, and formatting for Missing Maggie, so writing some new material was absolutely exhilerating. I'm hoping for a very productive winter.

Random Thought: I love that it's the little things that can make a child smile. 

Struggling with Smashwords

Struggling right now with the Smashwords conversion...ugh. When it's all done though, I'll have my book available in many other formats. As a positive, I received my 30 copies of my book so now I can get them to my close friends and family. I might even have a few left to solicit some local reviews.

Random Thought: It totally stinks that the people closest to you are also usually the most irritating!

Self-publishing "Missing Maggie"

After hemming and hawing for a few years about what to do with the novel I wrote, I decided self-publishing was the way to go. It's been a great experience so far and I'm very happy with the outcome.

Here's what went down last week:

• 10/3 - Nook and Kindle versions went live.
• 10/4 - Recieved paperback proof in mail and it was exactly what I was hoping for. I pressed "Submit" in CreateSpace and waited for the book to appear on Amazon.
• 10/5 - Sent out email to friends and family, published new facebook page, ordered 30 copies of my book to pass out, and published my website, jenniferldavidsonwriter.com.
• 10/6 - Responded to emails saying "Congratulations." This was sooooo fun to do!
• 10/10 - Saw that someone wrote the first review of "Missing Maggie" and gave it five stars!

What's next? Promote, promote, promote! I also need to get working on the second book in the Kody Burkoff series.

Random Thought: Why is it that the flies all seem to disappear when I finally find the fly swatter? UGH!